Cyril E. Power The Exam Room Study of Standardized Admissions Tests Is Big Draw at College Conference – article in Monday’s NYTimes and College panel calls for less focus on SAT’s I’m looking forward to hearing more from the PDS college guidance team who were at the conference in Seattle last week.
William Woodruff died this week. He was a professor of world history best known perhaps for his autobiographical works. He discovered a love of learning as a young adult and found his way to Oxford and a life in academia on three continents. His autobiographical The Road to Nab End was published in 1993 and portrays a long gone past of growing up…
Good introduction to Carol Tomlinson’s work on differentiated teaching – the theory that teachers can work to accommodate, support and build on students’ diverse learning needs – in this issue of Teacher magazine. Differentiated instruction is a term that is interpreted in a lot of different ways. How do you define it, and why is it important for teachers today?…
There’s a slow food movement so why not a slow mind movement? Some years ago Guy Claxton wrote Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less. It made a compelling argument that the mind works best when we trust the unconscious – our “undermind” tortoise mind. The hare brain is the deliberative, logical, conscious thinking we all…
From the colorful and personalized counting books of the pre-k to the calculations of trigonometry via an intriguing problem on the SmartBoard in the 5th grade classroom. (There’s more than one answer.)
When you write a blog for the world to see you can never be sure who reads it nor what they think. Keeping site statistics is one thing. Stats tell me how often, and how long and where from but not whether it mattered. Comments are always appreciated and thank-you to everyone who has taken the time to write. This…
There’s an animal sanctuary in Saugerties and today students from the high school were there giving a helping hand. There was a barn to be painted, muck to be raked and animals to care for. Here is a collage of pictures from today’s service learning trip. Thanks Tanya for making the connection, organizing the trip and for the photos. And…
The next president needs to be multi-dimensional, addressing issues that extend far beyond the classroom, but which are critically connected to a strong education framework. It’s election season and the new issue of Independent School magazine is out. Here is NAIS president Pat Bassett’s on The Politics of Learning – an open letter to the next president. …to equip children…
When young people spend countless hours, days, and weeks on activities that they find meaningless, there are psychological and social costs. William Damon “Education and the Path to Purpose” Damon believes that the most pressing problem in education today is student disengagement. And I think he is right. It’s an epidemic of disengagement, boredom and stress – a deadly combination…
A decade or so ago the focus was all on girls and how schools were failing to give them the attention and support they need to compete in school and to get a fair shake in the classroom. In recent years the focus has turned to boys and, if the media are to be believed, there is a crisis of…
More humor. This time from Fast Company magazine where Tom Stern wonders whether the over achievement of some adults has resulted in achievement obsession for their kids? From kindergarten to the boardroom considers whether we’re preparing our kids to take over the world far too early in their lives. It’s funny stuff but also provokes serious thinking. What do you…
Did you see this Op-Art piece by Bruce Handy in yesterday’s NYTimes? Hilarious. It’s a spoof of back-to-school registration forms. This one to be sent in to Elm Street school together with your fully inoculated, adequately medicated, lice-free son/daughter. Of course, nothing like this could ever happen at PDS. And I took great personal offense to item 3.a. What’s wrong…
Balance is a wonderful thing. We want it in our lives and in our school curriculum. But sometimes we need just a little disequilibrium to move forward. Take for example the PDS picnic – traditionally held on the first Friday and close to the Gilkeson playground. With that area fenced off for construction we had to come up with another…
I’ve written on this topic before but this is a wonderful blog post from New Zealand by Bruce Hammonds’ Leading and Learning – one of my favorite education sites. Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder Fortunately, here in the mid-Hudson valley and at PDS, we have abundant opportunities to experience the natural world under the skies and in the classroom.
Still Life with Fruit Basket – Paul Cezanne Think globally with awareness and understanding of complexity and multiple perspectives Predators have eyes in the front so they can see their prey. Prey have eyes on each side so they can watch out for predators. Flatfish, like the flounder, have eyes on one side so they can blend into the sea…